Central buffing and drawgear for railway vehicles



Feb. 14, 1933. R. WHITMORE 1,897,283

CENTRAL BUFFING AND DRAWGEAR FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 25, 1950 Feb. 14, 1933. R. 1.. WHITMORE CENTRAL BUFFING AND DRAWGEAR FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 25, 1950 FIGS.

Patented Feb. 14, 1933 1,897,288

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REGINALD LAWRENCE WHITMORE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND CENTRAL BUFlFING AND DRAWGEAR FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES Application filed January 25, 1930, Serial No. 423,434, and in Great Britain May 14, 1929.

This invention relates to central buffing In the bufi'ing and draw gear shown in and draw gear of the kind in which bufiing Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the yoke 1 is of the ordinary and draw springs are embraced by a yoke construction and is connected in usual manthat, by a cotter and slotconnection with the her to the shank 2 of the coupler head 3 and 5 coupler head shank, is pulled outwardly to the follower head 41 by means of sliding when drawing and relatively to which the cotters 5 and 6 respectively. coupler head and shank can move inwardly Embraced by the limbs of said yoke is a h bufling, housing 7 having a cylindrical boring within According to the invention buffing and which are arranged three sets of India-rub- 10 draw springs are located within a suitable ber springs of the type hereinbefore-men- 60 housing embraced by the limbs of the yoke, tloned located one behind the other. The the closed end of said housing bearing Inner spring 12 is arranged between the against the end of the yoke and the springs closed end 13 of the housing 7, which bears being arranged within said housing and bearagalnst the end 11 of the yoke, and a bearing ing at one end against the said closed end plate 14 arranged to slide in the housing. 65 thereof and at the other end against a pres- The front spring 15 is located between a sure plate that can slide in said casing and front compression plate 16 that abuts against which is moved inwardly by the follower the follower head 4, and a bearing plate 17 head against which bears the shank of the mounted to slide in the housing 7. Thein- Coupler 1 l termediate spring 18 is located between two '79 Preferably the buffing and draw springs intermediate plates 19 and 20 mounted to are India-rubber springs of the well known slide in the housing. The bearing plate 17 kind comprising units each consisting of for the inner end of the front spring 15 and concentric rings or frames of India-rubber the compression plate 19 for the front end of moulded on to opposite sides of a metal plate, the intermediate spring 18 normally bear. 7 the several units constituting a spring being against the opposite sides of stops in the form arranged in column form with metal dividof cotters 21 passed through holes formed ing plates between the spring units of the therefor in the wall of the housing 7 The column. The invention is not, however, recompression plate 141 for the front endof the stricted to the use of India-rubber springs rear spring 12 and the bearing plate 20 for as in some cases steel springs may be emthe rear end of the intermediate spring 18 in ployed or a combination of India-rubber like manner bear normally against the opposprings and steel springs. site faces of other similar stop cotters 22 WVith advantage the bufiing and draw mounted in like manner in the housing.

springs are so associated with compression In order to efiect compression of the three. plates and abutments that they are comsprings 15,18 and 12 in parallel, in the spring pressed in parallel, or first in series to a prearrangement being described by way of exdetermined extent and then in parallel, or ample, the compression plate 19 for the front first in series, then singly, and finally in end of the intermediate spring 18 is formed 40 parallel. or provided on its front face with an axial Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawpin or long boss 23 that projects through the ings show in sectional elevation and in secbearing plate 17 and the front spring 15 and tional plan, respectively, a construction of the inner end of which bears against the comcentral buifing and draw gear embodying the pression plate 16 for the front spring 15.

45 invention. A similar pin or long boss 24 projecting ax- Fig. 3 is a transverse section corresponding ially from the rear face of the said compresto the line A A of Fig. 1. slon plate 19 passes through the said inter- Figs 4 and 5 are views in planes at right mediate spring 18 and the bearing plate 20 angles to each other illustrating a modificaand bears against the compression plate 14: tion. for the front end of the rear spring. To facilitate assembly the front compression plate 16 is formed with a tapped axial hole through which an assembly stud 25 is screwed into a tapped axial hole formed therefor in the front end of the axial pin or long boss 28 that bears against the said compression plate. Preferably, as shown, thefront end of said axial pin or boss 23 fits into a recess provided to receive it in the rear face of the front compression plate 16. It will be understood that the assembly stud 25 holds the front spring 15 in any required condition ofinitial compression during assembly of the parts.

Eachof the three springs 15, 18 and 12 may comprise any appropriate number of spring units and instead of three springs one or two or a greater number than three may be employed.-- In the example underv notice each spring comprises three units of the concentric India-rubber ring type.

The construction and arrangement are such that in buiiing the front spring 15 is directly compressed by inward movement of thefollower head 4: and at the same time the two other springs 18 and 12 are compressed in parallel therewith by movement of their front compression plates 19 and 14 through the before-mentioned axial pins or bosses 28 and 24. In drawings, the three springs 15, 18 and 12 are in like manner compressed in parallel, the stop cotters 21 and 22, that move withfthe yoke, carrying with them'the hearing plates 17 and 20 the movement of which effects the compression of the front and intermediate springs 15 and 18 respectively.

With advantage the stop cotters 21 and 22 are of the truncated conical cross section shown as by making them of such a crosssection the compression and bearing plates that abut against the inclined opposite sldes thereof may be made of gradually increasing thickness towards their axes in order to give 'them strength and stiffness. Preferably that face of each of the said compression or hearing plates which abuts'against the stop cotters is of truncated pyramidical formation toprovide faces of substantial area that bear against the stopcotters, see Fig. 3. The

stop cotters may, as shown, be located vertically one towards each side of the spring housing 7 and if desired, in order to balance the stresses, short additional stop members ma be passed through slot-s formed in the top and bottom walls of the housing. Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate stop members 26 in association with the stop cotters 22. The stop cotters 21 and, 22 are provided with heads and are'retained in place as by split pins 27. The stop members 26 may, as shown in Fig. 5, be held in place as by spring pressed keys 29.

Although India-rubber springs have been referred to comprising concentric rings or frames of Indla-rubber 1t 1s withln the invention to employ India-rubber springs comprising any appropriate arrangement of continuous or interrupted bars of India-rubber moulded on to metal plates.

As will be appreciated, the invention provides satisfactory arrangements of Indiarubber bufling and draw springs in central buliing and draw gear of the character mentioned and variations in constructive details may be made without departure from the invention. The India-rubber moulded on to the metalplates maybe in the form of concentric rings, rectangular frames, oval ended frames or concentric frames.

What I claim is" 7 1. In central bufling anddraw gear of the type set forth, a draw bar yoke, a casing embraced by said yoke, a draw-,rod connected to said yoke, a follower head-on said draw rod, three sets of India-rubbersprings located one behind the other in said casing, a compression plate for the front end of the intermediate set of springs mounted to slidein said casing, a compression plate for the intermediate set of springs mounted to slide in said casing cotters removably mounted in said casing said yoke, a follower headon said draw rod,

three sets of India-rubber springs located'one behind the other in said casing, a compression plate for the front end of the intermediate set of springs mounted to slide in said casing, a rearwardly extending axial -boss 'on such plate in abutment withfirst-mentioned compression plate, a forwardly extending axial boss on such front compression plate for the front end of the intermediate set of between the said two compression plates constituting abutments therefor, a

springsengaging the follower head, a com- 5115 pressron plate for' the rear end of the front spring mounted to slide in said casing and on said' second" axial boss, cotters removably mounted in said casing between the said two last mentioned compression plates constituting abutments therefor and a front compression plate between said follower head and the front set of springs, the arrangement-being such that all three sets of springs are compressed in parallel when either'buifingor drawing. I a

3. In central bufling and draw gear of the kind set forth, a draw bar yoke, a casing-embraced by said'yoke, three sets of India-rubber springs arranged tandemwise within said casing, a compression plate endways movable in said casing for each of said sets of springs, rigid members positively spacing alternate compression plates, and cotters forming abutments for said compression plates, removably carried by said casing to effect compression of said three sets of springs in parallel when either buffing or drawing.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

REGINALD LAWRENCE WHXTMORE. 

